■ Essential Question: – What were the important Cold War events of the 1960s & 1970s? ■ Warm Up Question:

Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 When the Cold War began, Stalin spread communism into the satellites in Eastern Europe Stalin escalated the Cold War by creating the Berlin Blockade in 1948 Under Stalin, the USSR tested the atomic bomb in 1949 & hydrogen bomb in 1953

Stalin signed a “treaty of friendship” with Mao Zedong after the Chinese Revolution Stalin sent weapons to communists in North Korea during the Korean War

Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953 changed the Soviet Union & how it approached the Cold War against the United States

New USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev began a series of reforms known as de-Stalinization, which included releasing political prisoners & relaxing censorship Khrushchev seemed willing to work with the USA to ease Cold War tensions…

…But, tensions between the USA & USSR escalated throughout the 1950s & 1960s

Under Khrushchev, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik & the space race began The creation of ICBMs led to the stockpiling of nuclear weapons during the arms race

In 1961, John F Kennedy became U.S. president Kennedy & Khrushchev faced two important crises that heightened Cold War tensions: Building of the Berlin Wall & the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Berlin Crisis, 1961 Khrushchev was upset with the increasing number of communist East Germans who moved to democratic West Berlin In 1961, Khrushchev threatened to cut off access to West Berlin like Stalin’s blockade in 1948 President Kennedy promised to protect West Berlin

Rather than blockade the city, Communist leaders built the Berlin Wall to keep East Germans out of West Berlin

Walls and other barriers 10–15 feet high surrounded West Berlin. The length of the barriers around the city totaled about 110 miles The “death strip” stretched like a barren moat around West Berlin, with patrols, floodlights, electric fences, and vehicle traps between the inner and outer walls The Berlin Wall became the iconic image of the Cold War

When Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, the USA feared the spread of communism so close to America

After a failed attempt to overthrow Castro, Khrushchev secretly sent nuclear missiles to Cuba The U.S. successfully blockaded Cuba & Khrushchev removed the ICBMs in exchange for the removal of American ICBMs in Europe The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the USA & USSR came to nuclear war

The fall of China to communism had a major impact on the Cold War between the USA & USSR

The U.S. response to the fall of China was to more aggressively confront communism the world The USA was afraid of a “domino theory” in which communist nations turn their neighbors communist As a result, the USA vowed to contain the spread of communism anywhere in the world The USA acted when communism threatened Korea

After WWII, Korea was divided along the 38° with a communist gov’t in North Korea & a democracy in South Korea During World War II, Korea was liberated from Japanese control by the U.S. army in the South & the Soviet army in the North In 1950, North Korea (using Soviet supplied weapons) crossed the 38° & attacked South Korea When South Korea appealed to the United Nations, the USA sent troops to Korea to contain communism But, when the USA pushed too close to China, the Chinese Army entered the war & helped North Korea

After 3 years of fighting, a ceasefire was agreed to in 1953, the fighting stopped, & the 38° was restored as the boundary between North & South Koreas The USA successfully stopped communism from spreading into South Korea & showed that it was willing to fight to contain communism Today, Korea remains divided between a communist North & a democratic South

The fighting in Korea convinced many nations to not choose a side during the Cold War These “neutral” countries during the Cold War were known as the “non-aligned nations” While Korea was a success, the Cold War would escalate in the 1950s & 1960s as communism threatened Africa, Southeast Asia, & Latin America

From 1965 to 1973, the USA became involved in the Vietnam War When communist leader Ho Chi Minh gained independence for Vietnam, the USA feared communism in SE Asia

Vietnam was divided into a communist North & a democratic South In South Vietnam, communists known as the Vietcong worked to unify North & South Vietnam To contain communism, the USA sent troops to Vietnam starting in 1965

The American military used bombing raids, pesticides, & search-and-destroy missions to fight the communists Despite these efforts, the U.S. was unable to defeat the communist enemy The Vietnam War was expensive, hurt the U.S. economy, & became unpopular with anti-war protestors in the USA. In 1973, the USA withdrew from Vietnam & 2 years later communists unified Vietnam

America’s failure in Vietnam led to a change in Cold War policies The USA abandoned its containment policy & began looking for ways to improve relations with Cold War enemies